There is a difference between hearing and listening. When we hear someone there is a physical effort to take in what the person is saying, but it does not necessarily mean we have really received or processed what was said so we could respond to it. When we actually are listening we are then processing the message to try to make sense out of it so that we can respond to the speaker in a way that they will know we understood what they were saying. An interesting fact is that most people only use 25-30% of their listening potential. Practicing your listening skills actually can be quite difficult because it requires us to block everything out of our mind and give the person who is speaking to us our total attention and focus. If we need to do this for more than 7-10 seconds our minds will start to wander if we do not control them and refocus. People appreciate when someone is actually listening to them more than anything else, to be heard and understood makes our connection with them. For more information on Active Listening and how you can develope this skill we have a presentation on our website in our resource section take a listen and hear how you may improve your listening skills
Also here is a free e-booklet download from Mind Tools on Listening Skills http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/Mind%20Tools%20Listening.pdf
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